RESEARCHERS RETRACT ECSTASY STUDY ON ERRORS

WASHINGTON -- Researchers who studied the effects of the drug Ecstasy
on animals are retracting their report in a major scientific journal
after discovering a labeling mix-up caused them to use a different
drug. Other studies also have reported on the brain hazards of
Ecstasy, and the researchers said the problems with their work did not
call into question the earlier findings.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University reported in September 2002 that
key neurons in the brains of squirrel monkeys and baboons were damaged
when the animals were given doses of Ecstasy that mimicked those often
taken by users of the drug during "all-night dance parties."

They said the study raised questions about whether Ecstasy, also known
as MDMA, might hasten the onset of Parkinson's disease, a disorder
triggered by the permanent loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells. It
was those nerve cells that were reported to have been damaged by
Ecstasy in the Johns Hopkins research.

In retracting the story, the journal Science said Friday that the
researchers had discovered that labels on drugs supplied to them by an
outside company were incorrect, and the animals had actually been
given a different drug, methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine would be expected to produce the brain damage seen in
the animals, the researchers said in their retraction.

Ecstasy is methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Both are forms of
amphetamine but with different added chemicals and chemical action,
said researcher Dr. Una McCann.

She explained that a bottle of MDMA and a bottle of methamphetamine
were delivered to the lab the same day, from the same supplier, for
different research purposes.

When the researchers had trouble duplicating some of their work they
began to suspect problems, she explained. They had the bottle labeled
methamphetamine analyzed by three labs and all reported it was pure
MDMA - and the brains of two animals that had died following the
experiment were found to contain methamphetamine, not MDMA.

"It's a difficult situation. ... We pick up where we left off and see
what we can do to prevent this from happening again, and we correct
the record," McCann said.

She said the laboratory has developed a test for use in future studies
to make sure it is using the actual drug that the research calls for.